Friction gravity-drive.



Patented Sept. 18, 1917,

J. F. GILMORE. FRCTION GRAVITY DRIVE. APPucATmN FILED 'APR.10. 1913.

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VJOHN r. GIL'MORE, OFNEW YORK'NY.

man@ @transitive A Specification of Letters'latent.

rammed 'sepeia'lolm *Application sied April 1o, 191s. siarna 760,166.

^Be'itknown'thatL JOHN F. GILMORE, a citizen of the UnitedY States, residing at New York city, `in the 'county and, State of New York, have inv'eiited certain Inew and useful' Improvements in VFriction Grravity` Drives, of"which thef'ollowing 'isia clear,

other part is'inollntedon afspindle. vThe Y spiildleis freely mounted in a rotating bushing. The bush'ing is rotatcdby any suitable dri-ving mechanism 'so' that due lto the inertia of the spindle and loaded reel, they will turn with the bushing, butwill be prevented from turning by theV ,slightest impediment.

lnasmuch'as the operation of such agravity friction device is due in' ameasureto the weight of the mass being driven, it vwill 'be obvious that automatically the power will vary as the driven reel has more or less weight. l l

In my preferred form f this invention, I not only rely upon a tsimplebushing with one diameter of bore, and a plain spindle in the bore, but I provide annularY flanges lforl the spindle, and annular flanges for the Ibushing, the surfaces of both annular lianges riding one on the other. This is to increase the co-efiicient of drive by giving greater surfaces at a Igreater distance from the spindle for the tilting action of the weighted reel to act upon. It may be in some instances that the plain metal surfaces will not alone be relied upon, but that the flanges may carry leather or other frictional contact surfaces. The essential feature however, is that the spindle and reel are brought into contact with more or less force by means of the weight of the reel, and spindle itself, without the use of resilient take-ups and complicated brake shoes, such as are ordinarily used.

It will be seen that the device of my invention, if placed with the spindle in vertical line, may be so evenly balanced that the spindle will not be driven at all by a rapidly rotating sleeve, but if placed in a horizontal line, the weight of the spindle and reel will cause sufficient surface contact to carry the `weighted` reel and'spindle around with'the driving bushing.

- The scope of my invention will be pointed o'ut in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure l is a vertical sectional side ele 'vation of my preferred' forin'ofapparatus.

,Fig. 2 is a similar view-'ofthe modified form.

As 'shown in the drawings, l is the standard 'in which there is carried a bushing 2 Vprovided with Ya centrally bored pulleyB. vTheyare fastened together by a set scrcwfl;

The bushing 2 has 'a flanged extension o. The flanged extension and the pulley 3 leach 'have a considerable outer bearing surfalce, one on its' outside, the other on the inside of v.its bore. Thespindle 6 carries the ordinary reel 7 at one end. It has a flanged Vportion 8 secured to it at one end by a set screw 9. The fianged portion 8 is adapted to closely and snugly lit in the bore of the pulley-3. At the other end of the spindle is a 'part Vl0 centrally bored to closely and snugly fit the flange 5 ofthe bushing. A set screw 1l serves to hold the part 10 on the spindle'G. A belt l2 or otherdevice serves tol rotate the bushing. It will be seen that the weight Yof the `reel on the spindle will cause the 'upper 'surfaces at the points Vmarked 13 and le of the flanged portionsof the spindle to rest with the greatest pressure at these points upon the flangedportions of the bushing, and that this pressure will increase or decrease according to the weight of the spindle itself.

In Fig. 2 I have shown a modified form of device in which 2O is the spindle; 21 the bracket; 22 the bushing; 23 a gear wheel fast to the bushing 22; 24 is a cap pinned to the end of the spindle 20; 25 is a flanged projection on the spindle secured by screws 26 to a centrally bored part 27. Within the centrally bored part is a flanged portion 28 in one with the bushing 22, but of smaller diameter than the interior of the part 27. A

Y friction surface 29 may be carried by the part 28 to bear against the part 27. 30 is the drive at the two points marked in arrows as Bil, ln a device of -this character the parts 2T, 28 and 29 may be entirely done away with. T he driving from the points 3% and 35, and their associated areas may be suflicient.

In carrying out this invention, details of construction may be varied from those shown, and yet the essence of the invention be retained; some parts might be employed without others, and new features thereof might be combined with elements old in the art in diverse ways, lthough the herein described type is regarded as embodying substantial improvements over such modifications.V

iis many changes could be made in the above construction, and many apparently widely different embodiments of the invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted in an illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

it is furthermore desired to be understood that the language used in the following claims is intended to cover all the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which as a matter of language might be said to fall therebetween.

I claim as my invention:

l. In a motion picture apparatus, a friction drive for a. film take-up reel consisting of a continuously driven hollow shaft, a supporting frame therefor and areel carrying spindle, said reel carrying spindle supported entirely by said hollow shaft and frictionally connected therewith as and for the purpose described.

2. In a motion .picture apparatus, a lm take-up device consisting of a constantly driven tubular spindle, a supporting frame therefor, a film reel carrying a spindle freely mounted in said tubular spindle, a friction cup fastened on said reel spindle, a friction cup fastened on said constantly driven tubular shaft, said friction cup fastened on saidV reel spindle engaging on its surface with said friction cup, Which is fastened on said constantly driven tubular shaft, substantially as described.

8. In a motion picture apparatus, a film winding device consisting of a constant speed tubular shaft, a reel carrying shaft, said shaft being loosely mounted in said tubular shaft and supported entirely thereby, and a frame support for said tubular shaft, as and for the purpose described.

li. in a motion picture apparatus, a film winding device consisting of a constantly driven tubular shaft, a film reel shaft supported thereby, contact cups with friction surfaces mounted on said shafts, and a supporting frame for the tubular shaft, said tubular shaft driving the reel shaft controlled by the gravity contact between the friction cups, substantially as described.

Signed at New York city, New York, this 5th day of April, 1913.

JOHN F. GILMORE.

l/Vitnesses:

FRED FRANCIS Weiss, l?. W'Annnn VRIGHT.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. C. 

